Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Japanese Team Claims Discovery of Elusive Element 113
.... and May Get to Name It.
The article from Popular Science is here.
Japanese researchers claim they’ve seen conclusive evidence of the long-sought element 113, a super-heavy, super-unstable element near the bottom of the periodic table. It’s not yet verified by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, which regulates the table and the names of the elements — but if the IUPAC grants its blessing, the researchers could be the first team from Asia to name one of nature’s fundamental atoms.
snip
In an experiment in August, the team used a customized gas-filled recoil ion separator paired with a semiconductor detector that can pick out atomic reaction products. They created element 113 by speeding zinc ions through a linear accelerator until they reached 10 percent of the speed of light. The ions then smashed into a piece of bismuth. When the zinc and bismuth atoms fused, they produced an atom with 113 protons. This atom decayed, incredibly rapidly, into a series of daughter products, each an alpha particle (two protons and two neutrons) lighter than the parent atom. The daughter nuclides are the clear offspring of element 113, and only element 113, whose presence can thus be determined.
snip
In an experiment in August, the team used a customized gas-filled recoil ion separator paired with a semiconductor detector that can pick out atomic reaction products. They created element 113 by speeding zinc ions through a linear accelerator until they reached 10 percent of the speed of light. The ions then smashed into a piece of bismuth. When the zinc and bismuth atoms fused, they produced an atom with 113 protons. This atom decayed, incredibly rapidly, into a series of daughter products, each an alpha particle (two protons and two neutrons) lighter than the parent atom. The daughter nuclides are the clear offspring of element 113, and only element 113, whose presence can thus be determined.
Here's what the decay chain looks like:
Decay Chain of Element 113 Superheavy element 113 decays to the following daughter isotopes: Roentgenium-274; Meitnerium-270; Bohrium-266; Dubnium-262; Lawrencium-258; and Mendelevium-254. RIKEN
A post in DU from 2004 reports on another claim to discovering/creating 113, but that claim has not yet been recognized...just as today's claim has not yet been recognized:
The periodic table is almost full. During the past few years, teams in various countries have reported finding the final remaining elements: 113, 115, 117 and 118. As of June, the IUPAC was still evaluating claims for their discovery. No assignments have been made yet, but are being considered by a IUPAC and IUPAP Joint Working Party. If the IUPAC recognizes this discovery, the RIKEN team will get to name element 113
Cool.
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
